May 2010

Chemical Industry Consumed More Natural Gas In Q1
The Romanian chemical industry shows slight signs of a comeback. These can be indirectly seen in the transactions of the largest state-owned gas provider Romgaz, based in Media?. The company registered in the first quarter of this year a growth in sales of 22.1 percent compared to the same quarter in the year before. The natural gas volume sold increased by 17 percent. One third of the total delivery went only to the chemical companies Interagro, Azomure? and GHCL Upsom. However, the rise in consumption registered by the chemical companies bears a little trick: until October this year they can draw natural gas exclusively from indigenous reserves. It is cheaper than imported natural gas.

April 2010

Painkiller Most Popular Drug Of Romanians
On average, every Romanian bought last year, 21 packs of drugs, reported research company Cegedim, which specialized in the pharmaceutical market. In its recent study it found that in 2009 a total of 460 drug packages changed their owners, 9.1 per cent less than the year before. The largest decreases were registered in non-prescription drugs (-15.6 per cent), while sales of prescription drugs decreased only by 4.7 per cent. With 15 million packages, the painkiller Algocalmin is probably the most popular pharmaceutical product of the Romanians, although it is illegal in many countries. Nurofen, also a painkiller, was second most popular, with 11.2 million packages sold. Blood pressure lowering medication and the antibiotic Ampicillin had also high sales.

March 2010

German PCC Would Like To Buy Oltchim
PCC, held by businessman Waldemar Preussner, which holds 12.1 per cent in chemical plant Oltchim Ramnicu-Valcea (OLT), intends to acquire the majority stake in the Romanian company in order to secure a position among the top five producers of polyols in Europe. The investment in Romania was to consolidate the company and its growth. Oltchim produces 5 per cent of European polyols production, PCC 3 per cent. Together, they could reach 10 per cent of the European market. Companies such as Dow Chemicals and Bayer account for half of the market an control delivery prices and raw materials. Oltchim's acquisition is seen among the few solutions that the German company sees to grow on the polyols market.

February 2010

Pharmaceutical Market Recorded Increase In 2009 (In Lei)
About 20 pharmaceutical companies currently account for nearly 80 percent of the Romanian pharmaceutical market, as the market research company Cegedim stated recently. In the past year the market has been consolidated, when the top 20 pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors made 70 per cent of the market. In the last year, the market volume reached 8.1 billion lei, 13.1 per cent more than last year (in lei). In Euro, the market recorded a decline of 9.1 percent. While average prices have dropped in 2009 by 8.5 per cent, the percentage of high-priced drugs rose from 28.5 per cent to 34.2 per cent. Overall, in the past year, 791 new pharmaceutical products were launched on the market (sales: 34 million Euro), 547 others have been withdrawn from the market (sales: 13.2 million Euro).

January 2010

Environment Ministry: 80 million Euro For Implementation Of The REACH Program
This year will be expensive for the Romanian chemical industry. In accordance with the EU legislation REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemical substances), which entered into force on 1st of June 2007, have this year, all traders that produce and/or import chemical agents have to apply to register their products under consideration, and approval of and at the European Chemicals Agency in Helsinki, Finland. The compulsory program runs until 2018. Until November this year, annual volumes of more than 1,000 tons are due. The entire administrative activity was estimated by the Romanian Ministry of Environment to cost around 80 million Euro. The EU expects the costs to reach about 5 billion Euro.